


Adventures in Snooping

by Asphodelia



Series: Runaways [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Adventure, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Puppy Love, Teenagers, a bit of angst, lots of running, mutual crushing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-18 13:40:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9387581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asphodelia/pseuds/Asphodelia
Summary: Ben and Armitage's fledgling careers as outlaws hit a major roadblock after a client betrays them. They decide to lay low for a while and instead end up uncovering a dangerous plot.Also; fluff and uncomfortable conversations.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Previously: Ben ran away, stealing a ship that had Armitage on it. The two of them became partners in crime, although Armitage was initially faking it and still plans on returning to the Order. 
> 
> Ben thought by running away from his Jedi training he could escape the voice that is trying to pull him towards the dark side, but it returns periodically now despite the fact that he's really only indulged in using the force a couple of times.

“Can I take the shot?” Ben whispered excitedly in his ear. They were crouched behind some crates right now, forced to huddle together as they hid. It was not the first time their work had required them to relinquish their personal space and Armitage was really getting sick of it. For all that he would begrudgingly admit to enjoying Ben’s company once in a while, being this close to someone – having Ben’s hand resting on his shoulder while they both leaned in close to peek through the gap between two crates – just wasn’t for Armitage. His heart was beating far faster than it should. It was probably good he was getting a chance to build up a tolerance to proximity like this it before he and his fellow cadets had much field training, because surely there’d be situations like this then too.

“You’ve only had two lessons!” Armitage hissed back. He’d been teaching Ben how to shoot and had discovered that he really didn’t have the focus for it. Or, more likely, it was boring to him compared to the training he’d run away from and so he couldn’t be bothered to really try. 

“I feel like I could get it.” There was a slight chuckle in Ben’s voice and his breath was tickling his neck. They needed to get on with the job, now.

“Speaking as your teacher; no you couldn’t. And we only have one shot.”

The shot they were referring to was meant to snap a rope. The group of desert nomads they were spying on stored their food and some other goods in a rope net suspended from a rocky outcropping. This protected it from animals, and they seemed to have no fear about their rope breaking and sending all of their things tumbling into the canyon below.

The nomads themselves were barely aware of life existing off of their planet, but a smuggler Ben and Armitage had met through a different client had formed a relationship with them where she would trade all kinds of useful things (and occasional useless trinkets) to the nomads in exchange for their safeguarding goods for her occasionally.

The reason Armitage and Ben were currently spying on the camp of sleeping nomads was that there had been a mix up. The smuggler had accidentally included an item in her last payment to the tribe which she was supposed to deliver to her own clients. She couldn’t ask for it back without offending the nomads, and couldn’t steal it back without risking the relationship. She also couldn’t get anyone too well known to do it without risking spreading rumors about her own incompetence. So, she hired Ben and Armitage. 

They were actually starting to build a reputation. It was only as all-purpose criminal errand boys, and only within space that could be said to ‘belong’ to their first client, Jojo. But still. It was progress. Aside from that hiccup the first time they’d stolen something a couple weeks back, things had been going well. 

Armitage had worried that almost getting caught was going to be hard to come back from, but since it hadn’t negatively impacted their clients it hadn’t actually mattered. He had also been worried that they would figure out that they’d looked at what was in the box – a memory chip containing coordinates and a list of numbers that hadn’t made sense to him or Ben – but they hadn’t seemed to. Perhaps they did assume they’d look and just knew it wouldn’t make sense to them. Either way, there’d been no real fallout. 

Or, at least not any work-related fallout. Ben still hadn’t volunteered any kind of explanation for what had happened to make him freeze up, and Armitage suspected that whatever it was had happened a few more times. Ben would stare off into the distance, frustration or sorrow clear on his face, and when Armitage tried to snap him out of it he would just go away for a while and come back smiling like nothing had been wrong. Armitage may have been wrong to let the whole thing go the first time.

Aside from those few incidents, things had been going well and Ben’s good mood had been unbreakable for the last few days. Currently, he was practically vibrating next to Armitage. He was really excited about this shot Armitage wasn’t going to let him take. 

Ben would miss and wake up all the nomads. Armitage’s blaster was almost as loud as an ancient firearm (it was still the most decent thing they could afford) and they knew that it was going to wake people up, but that would only be a problem if they missed. Once the bundle was falling they would be free to get out of there and head for the ship. The thing they were after – they had been told it was a memory chip this time – wouldn’t break in the fall and they could just pick it up at the bottom of the canyon. 

It could be simple, but it could also get complicated quickly if people started waking up before they were ready to run. 

“Come on, I got this!” 

“You most definitely do not ‘got this’.” Armitage stood slowly and raised the blaster, trying to focus on the shot.  
“You can walk me through it, it’ll be fine.” Ben stood as well and bumped Armitage’s shoulder with his own.

“…You’re going to keep distracting me until I give in, aren’t you?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Brat.” Armitage huffed out and handed over the gun, only to watch Ben fail utterly and completely at even aiming the thing right. 

“You aren’t good, but you’re better than that.”

“I dunno, I think you’d better help.” Ben had a look like he was trying not to smirk. Armitage resisted the childish urge to roll his eyes as he realized what Ben really wanted.

“Give it back.”

“No, just…show me.” Ben whined when Armitage didn’t immediately go along with his obvious little plot.

They risked someone waking up and catching them every second they stood there disagreeing, so Armitage relented. Gently, he put his hands on Ben’s and arranged them to hold and aim the blaster properly. It was difficult not to think about how warm Ben’s skin was under his fingers…Ben, of course, grinned like a maniac the whole time Armitage was touching him.

“Now the only problem might be the kickback. If you wanted to help hold me steady…”

“Just take the shot.” Armitage bit out.

Ben laughed, took the shot, and actually made it. The rope snapped and the bundle of goods started falling. 

Ben let out a loud ‘whoop!’ in victory, waking anybody who hadn’t been awoken by the sound of the blaster.

“…That was a lucky shot.” Armitage had not expected that. It would have been a difficult shot for him.

“Nah, you’re just a good teacher. Come on.” Ben squeezed his shoulder and started running.

They ran back to the Breakaway before many people could figure out what had happened, never mind think to chase them, and flew immediately down the canyon in search of the box they were looking for. It had splintered into a million pieces, but the memory chip they were looking for was well protected in a spongy casing. 

They also ended up retrieving everything else that had fallen down (mostly bags of preserved foods) and dumping it near the nomad’s camp so they could find it again, because Ben insisted that they were ‘outlaws, but not bad guys’. 

He was honestly the most ridiculous person Armitage had ever met. He wanted to be a criminal, but not to hurt anybody. He went from overconfident to overly humble – or gloomy to excited – on a dime. He tried to flirt with Armitage every day, but he never made an actual move (not that he was waiting for him to or anything). 

He was warm and friendly towards someone who had only ever been treated coldly, at least since his mother had been sent away. 

Armitage was careful not to let himself get used to it. He wasn’t weak enough to desire or expect kindness in his dealings with other people, and once he returned to the Academy and the Order he certainly wouldn’t receive it. Still, Ben…

Ben was ridiculous. 

-

Since the voice had come back, Ben had good days and bad days. On bad days, it would whisper the same kinds of awful things it always had – that the people who claimed to love Ben only actually loved the nonexistent person they wanted him to be, that Ben was drawn to the dark side, that his best asset was his potential for violence. The voice had started backing all this up with the ‘evidence’ that Ben was fleeing form the light and the peaceful teachings of his uncle. 

On the worst days, Ben would believe it. 

Because he didn’t want to go home and live under Uncle Luke’s thumb, and he did want to control his own destiny, and the power that the voice was offering him sounded like freedom. He didn’t think he wanted a life of blood and darkness, but apparently he didn’t want a life in the light either. The voice always came to him when he was already doubting himself, and if Ben wasn’t careful it would have him half sure that what he was doing right now _was_ running towards it before it left him.

On the good days, though, everything was…good. He was living out a childhood fantasy in a lot of ways – having the kinds of adventures he’d dreamed of since he was a little kid listening to his dad’s stories. On the good days, it was enough that he got to fly around getting into trouble with Armitage. If this were just Ben’s life, he thought he could be happy.

Except, it all felt temporary since the voice came back. It felt like some kind of in-between phase, and he was scared of what was on the other side of it. 

He didn’t let himself think about that when he could help it, though. Armitage was an especially good distraction (which made shooting lessons hard to focus on). His future boyfriend (he wouldn’t have kept flirting so hard if he wasn’t pretty sure Armitage liked it) and current partner was striking, especially now that he didn’t wear his cadet uniform anymore. And they’d known each other for more than a month now, so Ben was past thinking that Armitage seemed smart and onto knowing that he was an actual genius. Not so much about anything social or requiring even the slightest bit of emotional intelligence, mind you. 

Although he was weirdly good at negotiating for them. Usually when they met with clients now Armitage did all the talking and it was Ben’s job to stand behind him and look tough (they had learnt together that Ben could be pretty intimidating, so long as he didn’t open his mouth or _try_ to look intimidating). 

That was what was happening right now, in the cargo hold of their client’s ship. They had recovered the memory chip for their client, and now they were returning it to her and getting paid. 

“Did you look at what was on it?” She had instructed them not to. 

“No.” Armitage lied effortlessly. Of course they looked. Since opening that first box they weren’t supposed to open, they always looked. The memory chip had actually been a lot like that first one; coordinates and numbers with no clear relationship or pattern.

“Right then, I’ll transfer you boys your money.” The smuggler – a woman who was not quite elderly – chuckled good-naturedly as she transferred their payment into the account they’d set up a few weeks earlier. 

“Did everything go smoothly?”

“Very.”

“Details, Red! Tell me all about it.” It seemed like almost everyone they met called Armitage ‘Red’, and Ben could practically hear him fighting off the eye twitch every time. He always introduced himself as Hux, and people used that too, but friendly and faux-friendly types loved calling him Red.

Meanwhile, Ben loved that he was the only one who called him Armitage. 

“You have your chip. There was no damage done to the tribe whose hands it had fallen into. What other details do you want?” Armitage’s patience was running thin. That happened when you called him ‘Red’. 

“None I suppose, I was just stalling a bit. Jojo, darling, you’re late!”

Ben whipped around to see Jojo – the first client they’d ever had and a man they still got a steady stream of jobs from. Jojo had been an enemy of Han Solo, and neither Ben nor Armitage trusted him. They did think he’d wait longer to betray them, though.

“Ah, Mr. Jordania,” Armitage greeted calmly, as if he didn’t suspect anything was amiss. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

He’d been pleased when Ben had told him Jojo’s full name. He really hated saying ‘Jojo’.

“You boys have been doing a really good job lately. You had a few bumps at the start, but you’re really hitting your stride.”

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, I thought it’d be fun to have Han’s boy on the payroll. Thought you’d be pretty amusing to – so much pride for someone so…waifish.” Jojo laughed as he approached, two armed thugs following him in.

Jojo and his men were now blocking the only exit.

“That’s all done now, though. You kids have been working for way too many people who aren’t me.”

“None of our other clients have been your enemies.” Armitage commented mildly, as if Jojo wasn’t obviously there to kill them. Ben’s hand was already wrapped tightly around the hilt of his machete, and he would already be trying to slash their way out if Armitage didn’t seem to have a different plan. He’d started walking slowly towards Jojo as they talked.

“Of course not – you boys only operate out of my space! People around here are starting to talk about you, and I can’t have that. I can’t have people resenting me for it when I eventually decide I’m done being amused by you two, so it’s better to just call it off now.” Jojo sighed. “…You know that I know you’re terrified, right Red? I can smell it.”

Jojo punctuated that statement by leaning in towards Armitage and taking a big sniff. 

Armitage took advantage of his close proximity to knee him in the groin and start running. 

“Come on, Ben!” 

The goons reacted more quickly than Jojo, who was immobilized temporarily from pain and shock. They chased after them, and one drew his blaster on them on the ramp heading off the ship. He was close enough behind Ben that he could stop, spin, and swing out with his machete to disarm the man (and potentially cut off one of his fingers). The other goon tried to jump at him while he was distracted, but he took a shot from Armitage’s blaster to the back of his knee for his trouble. 

It was probably a good thing they were forced to engage the goons before they had run too far, because they wouldn’t have been able to simply run from them all the way back to the Breakaway. Ben’s precious Delta was a good ten minute walk outside of the town – a tactic Armitage had suggested to prevent their ship from being commandeered by potential enemies, like Jojo, while they were doing business.

They got back to the ship no worse for wear, aside from their primary employer and the man who dominated the corner of the galaxy they’d been working in wanting them dead. They’d have to move on. Also, a quick check showed that the smuggler woman hadn’t actually paid them.

“What do we do now?” Armitage asked once they were off the planet. He sounded frustrated. “Everything we’d started to build over the last month is worthless now. We’ll have to leave this system.” 

“There are other systems.” It wasn’t that Ben wasn’t frustrated too – he was – but he thought that what they’d actually built was a partnership and a skillset. They were starting to know what they were doing, and they worked well together. They could set up somewhere else. “Maybe we should lay low for a while, though.”

“Probably.” Armitage huffed. Reputation mattered more to him than Ben, and that’s what they’d lost.

“Hey, know what might be fun? Let’s check out some of those coordinates from the chips. Our computer should have them saved.”

“How is that laying low?”

“We won’t get involved if it looks bad, but why not take a peak? I know you’re curious.”

“…I suppose.” 

For all that he liked to think he was the responsible one between the two of them, Armitage could never resist sticking his nose in where it probably didn’t belong. Ben loved that about him.

Speaking of things he loved about Armitage…

“You fight pretty dirty.” Ben laughed, remembering how it was they’d escaped Jojo. “Here I was thinking you had some sophisticated plan.”

“Yes, well, whatever works.” Armitage’s face was about as red as his hair, which was always cute. 

“You’re coming along so nicely. I’m so proud of me.” Ben smirked as he found the saved coordinates from that first memory chip and punched them in.

“You’re proud of you?”

“I found an enemy droid and turned him into a real boy. I deserve some kind of medal.” 

Armitage got that look on his face that said he was trying very hard not to roll his eyes (or hit him). It was also pretty cute.

-

They arrived at their destination the next day. It was on the very edges of what could loosely be termed ‘Jojo’s territory’, and it didn’t look like anything special. It was just a planet with a small population. There was one major city supported by a mine of some kind, but the coordinates they had pointed to the other side of the world where there were only small towns.

They landed about ten minutes outside of one small village. There were coordinates for multiple villages on the list, along with other numbers attributed to the coordinates. Further, this planet was one of a few planets listed in the file, and they knew of at least one other memory chip with a similar file. Arriving in the village didn’t give them any clues to what any of the data was supposed to mean or why it was being traded on the black market. 

The village was…nice, though. Dirty and uncivilized, to be sure, but the weather was mild and the sky was blue. Ben suggested they see if there was an inn they could rent a room at while they laid low. There wasn’t – the town wasn’t big enough for that – but someone did have a brother who wasn’t home. They offered to rent his small cabin to them for a few days and the price was far more reasonable than Armitage would have expected. 

It felt like they were on vacation, which was surreal right after feeling like they were about to be murdered. And considering that Armitage had never been on vacation and had nothing to compare it to. He told Ben as much, which earned him an oddly sympathetic laugh. 

“We’ll just have to make sure your first vacation is memorable, then.”

The evening after they arrived in town they sat out on the stoop of their borrowed cabin and watched the sun set over a nearby lake. Ben yawned unsubtly and ‘snuck’ an arm around his shoulder.

Armitage allowed it.


	2. Chapter 2

The cabin was small; just one room with a small bed, a stove, and a single holonet terminal which was the only sign of true civilization in the wooden structure. After they’d watched the sunset on the first night of their ‘vacation’ – Ben with his arm draped over Armitage’s shoulders and Armitage gradually relaxing into his hold – Ben had winked obviously and made a comment about how there was just the one bed. Armitage had thrown him a less-than impressed look, which he had laughed off before saying he would take the floor. Apparently he was used to that from his Jedi training. 

The bed was comfortable enough, but Armitage still had trouble falling asleep. In part, he was worried about how they were to proceed professionally now that all of the contacts they had made were lost to them and they had at least one noteworthy enemy. In part, he was thinking about Ben sleeping on the floor. There wasn’t even a carpet, it was bare wood. And not very clean. Ben was taking the floor tonight, but was Armitage going to have to sleep there the next night? They’d paid to stay in this cabin for almost a week. It only seemed fair that they take turns on the floor. 

Armitage did not want to sleep on the floor.

But Ben hadn’t mentioned taking turns, he’d just said he was fine on the floor. Had he said that out of chivalry? If that were true, then they should definitely take turns. He didn’t want Ben to get the wrong idea. He’d been doing very well at not indulging his flirtations, he didn’t want to ruin that by allowing Ben to treat him like someone he was wooing. 

Ben could just be being nice, though. They were friends now, after all, and Ben was…nice. 

And if Ben was just being nice, then there was really no reason they shouldn’t share the bed. It would be tight, but they’d both fit. If anything, not sharing the bed was odd. It was no big deal for friends or comrades to share space like that, it was only a big deal if there was an implication that something was…going on. And there wasn’t, in this situation. So it was really silly for Ben to be sleeping on the floor. 

“Ben? Are you awake?” Armitage whispered. “It’s not actually an issue if you want to share the bed. I was only objecting to your, um, joke.” 

Ben made no response, just continued to lay there breathing evenly. He was asleep. 

That was probably for the best. 

-

Armitage wanted them to share the bed! 

Ben forced himself to keep breathing evenly so he could pretend to be asleep. He knew what he’d implied earlier, but he just wasn’t ready to share a bed with the cute ginger. He wanted to, obviously, but there were just too many ways he could screw things up. 

Armitage didn’t want that in the same way he did. Or, maybe he did - he let him put his arm around him earlier and Ben had long suspected he enjoyed his flirting more than he let on – but that still wasn’t what he meant right now. He probably meant that Ben could come lay next to him and not touch him and, in reality, Ben could _not_ lay next to him and not touch him. He could never resist touching Armitage, even if it was just a hand on his shoulder or mussing up his hair. 

If he were actually in bed with him, he would want to pull him close and caress him and smell his hair and do other stuff which he hadn’t done before, which was against the rules for a jedi padawan, which he was sort of nervous about but definitely wanted… Or just snuggle him, for now. That’d be nice too. That’d be perfect, actually. But he wouldn’t be able to do any of it because Armitage hadn’t actually said he wanted anything like that from Ben. So, he’d end up laying there, not sleeping because he wouldn’t be able to trust himself to keep his hands to himself if he fell asleep. And then if he did fall asleep, he’d dream and probably wake up…interested…and Armitage would know and –

No. No, Ben was fine on the floor, thank you very much. 

Except, Armitage had said he could come lay next to him and that sounded pretty amazing in spite of all those other issues. 

But it had been a while since he had spoken, so he was probably asleep now. It’d be creepy to climb into bed with him while he was asleep. Ben had missed the window.

That was probably for the best. 

Ben managed to fall asleep after a while and before he knew it he was being woken up by the sound of Armitage bustling around the cabin. He cracked an eye open and saw that it was daylight outside, and his crush was busy re-arranging the cupboards in the kitchen area. 

“You know, the guy who lives here probably wants his stuff to stay where he put it.”

“Well, he’s wrong. Good morning, Ben.” 

“Morning!” Ben grinned and stretched as he shifted into a sitting position on the floor. “So, what do you want to do today? If you say ‘study’ or ‘keep organizing this guy’s house’ or anything else lame, I’m going to throw you in the lake.” 

Armitage stopped his organizing to shoot Ben a dry look. “Nothing ‘lame’? There go all of my ideas. What do you want to do?”

“Throw you in the lake.” 

“No.” 

That’s what Armitage said but he didn’t really put up much resistance when, after their quick breakfast of rations, Ben started steering them towards the lake. Ben didn’t end up throwing him in, though – Armitage hesitated only briefly before stripping to his underwear and wading in. Ben had never seen that much of him and found it difficult to do much besides watch the pale, slender, back of his friend begin to disappear under the water.

“Am I going to have to throw _you_ in?” Armitage called back to Ben, who was still standing on shore watching him. He sounded more irritated than Ben thought was called for, but that wasn’t exactly new. Ben smirked, stripped to his own underwear, and _charged_. 

Armitage swore and attempted to move out of his path, but he wasn’t fast enough in the lake. Ben grabbed him around his chest and tackled him under the water. When they resurfaced Ben was laughing, which earned him a mouth full of water. Armitage was an overly aggressive splasher. 

He didn’t look irritated anymore, though. There was a light in his eyes and a smirk on his lips. He was cute when he was angry, but when he was happy Armitage was beautiful. And despite the whole ‘in hiding from a crime lord’ thing, Armitage was happy a lot lately. Ben was starting to really believe that he liked him back.

Also, his very obvious determination _not_ to look anywhere but at Ben’s face while they were both stripped down was pretty telling.

They stayed in or near the lake all morning, having splash fights or just floating around. If the dark voice had tried to talk to Ben, Ben would have been able to block it out completely. Everything felt natural, and Ben made a decision. He didn’t want to lay awake feeling awkward about the possibility of sharing a bed with Armitage again. He didn’t want there to be any question of whether he could put his arms around him, or hold his hand. He’d never kissed anybody before, but he wanted that for them and felt an intoxicating rush looking at his friend’s smiling face and imagining that he wanted it too. 

It had been almost 2 months now of flirting and daydreaming and becoming partners. Ben was as sure as he was ever going to be about how they felt about each other. He was going to take the plunge. He was going to ask Armitage to be his boyfriend. 

They were both tired from swimming and had moved to the shore to lay in the grass while they dried off. Armitage looked more relaxed than Ben had previously thought possible for him. It was time.

“Hey, Armitage? You know how I – I mean you must know – and so, I was wondering, do you maybe also –“

“Out with it, Ben.”

-

Armitage was exhausted, despite the fact that it was still early in the afternoon. It was a pleasant exhaustion, though, and it felt nice to give into it instead of forcing himself to work through it. He didn’t think he’d ever laid down in grass at all before, never mind that he was laying in it more than half naked. It was a strangely lovely feeling – the grass against his skin, the sunshine, the water, Ben laying less than an arm’s length away…

He had felt extremely self-conscious about being seen out of his jacket – he hated how scrawny he was – but he had pushed aside those feelings - he hated seeming self-conscious more than he hated being a toothpick – and before long he wasn’t even aware of his own state of undress (by contrast, he was _very_ aware of Ben’s). Was pretending you wanted to drown your friends a common teenage activity in the New Republic? Armitage approved of it even if it was. 

He was too tired to keep splashing and swimming now, though. They were laying near the shore of the lake now, chatting lazily while they waited to be dry enough to get dressed again. 

“Hey, Armitage? You know how I – I mean you must know – and so, I was wondering, do you –“

Armitage frowned, not understanding why Ben was jumping around his point. “Out with it, Ben.”

“Do you want to just go get lunch? I mean, I know we’ll be kind of damp, but I’m really hungry. Are you hungry too?”

The town was too small to have an inn or any real shops, but there was one restaurant-slash-bar and a few produce stands in what passed for the town square. For lunch, they headed into the restaurant. 

It was probably as crowded inside the restaurant as it was capable of getting in a place like this – ten patrons, one of whom was passed out at the bar. Most people were probably farmers breaking for lunch, but there was a group of three people sitting quietly at one table who looked extremely out of place for the town. They were wearing the same types of clothing as the townspeople, but it all looked brand new and the way they sat, their posture…well, it was not unlike Armitage’s own posture. 

Did those coordinates lead them here too?

Armitage didn’t consider it for long because it was time to order food, which was made semi-difficult by a lack of menus in the establishment. The town didn’t get many tourists, and all the locals knew what they could get. Also, although the locals did speak basic, they spoke it with a heavy accent so understanding one of the owners as she tried to explain food items and pricing to them wasn’t easy either. The screaming 2-year-old tugging on her arm also didn’t help. Not for the first time, Armitage wondered at the chaos of life outside the Order.

Armitage and Ben had just managed to grasp what she was telling them about the food they could order and how much it cost when the woman suddenly looked away from them and towards where the other outsiders had been sitting. 

They were standing now. The other owner – the woman’s husband – was staring them down angrily and raising his voice as he told them to get out. Three times. His message was clear even through the accent, but the three tourists just smirked and shared amused looks. They did leave, but they stood there just long enough to show the owner that it was by their choice and they didn’t really care about his orders.

The entire room had gone silent – even the toddler – and stayed that way even after the men left. Everyone was just staring at the owner, who was fuming. The silence was broken when Ben’s stomach growled loudly, and suddenly everyone was looking at them. 

Armitage resisted the urge to inch closer to his friend, whose overly-expressive face was displaying obvious panic and embarrassment. 

“So, wow, that food sure smells…good…”

Armitage shook his head frantically and Ben shut up, but it was too late. 

“Ge’out.” The man was addressing them now and pointing at the door. Armitage forced his voice to remain calm.

“There may have been a misunderstanding, we’re not with –“

“OUT!”

Armitage and Ben scurried out of the restaurant at an embarrassing speed. 

“I suppose we shouldn’t expect our hosts to be too civilized on a backwater planet like this.” Armitage humph-ed and took a moment to regain his composure.

“You’re such a snob.” Ben said laughingly, with no real insult in his words. “If us and those guys are the only visitors they’ve had in years, it makes sense to think we might be together.”

“What do you think they did that was so offensive? It didn’t seem like there was much of an argument before they were being thrown out.”

“Why don’t we find out?” Ben was looking at a point over Armitage’s shoulder. When he glanced behind him he saw the three tourists laughing together a ways down the street. “It’s not like we can get lunch now.”

“You want to talk to them?”

“Pssh, no. I want to stalk them and eavesdrop on their conversations.”

“…Alright.” Armitage answered Ben’s smile with his own, and they got to stalking. He was curious about the incident in the restaurant, as well as the reason the men might have come to the town in the first place. It was a good place to lay low, but not exactly a prime vacation destination.

Following the men through the town was easy enough – they didn’t really seem concerned with whether they were drawing attention, for all that they had tried to dress to fit in. It got trickier once they left town for a forested area. 

Armitage worried for a moment that the strangers had found the Breakaway. It was in a clearing about 15 minutes outside the town in these same woods. However, it turned out that they were only headed to their own ship which had been landed over a stream even closer. It was a small ship, significantly smaller than their Delta. It looked like it was probably a tight fit for the three men just to sit in – there would be no living space or room for cargo. They must have a larger ship nearby, probably a much larger ship.

“Hey Das, did we hear anything back from the boss?”

“One sec, I’m checking.” The one called Das opened a hatch at the back of the little ship and pulled out a data pad. “Nah, not yet.”

“I don’t understand why we can’t just do it. It’s just bringing the ship over and loading it up.” The third man spoke, grabbing a fold up chair from the back of the ship and quickly collapsing into it. “We can’t just wait around forever. It’s boring as shit, and the locals’ll be out here with pitch forks soon.”

He said the last part with an irritated look at the first speaker, who only laughed.

“C’mon Nevi, you thought it was funny too. And all I did was ask the man a couple questions.”

“You asked him about 5 questions about the physical condition of his baby daughter. He either thought you were a pervert, or trying to buy her, or both.” 

“That’s why it’s funny! And hey, it’s our job to ask those questions.”

“Not that obviously, and not when we can just look and see that the kid is healthy.”

Bells were ringing like crazy in Armitage’s head. He felt like he should know what was going on, but it wasn’t quite coming to him. The answer was just out of his grasp.

“And we can’t start yet because we can’t finish on our own. This isn’t the only stop we have to make on this planet.”

“Yeah yeah. The numbers are checking out, anyways.”

They started talking about some kind of sporting event after that, so Ben and Armitage snuck away. Armitage frowned all the way back to town. 

“So, those guys are creeps. Or they’re checking out the health of local kids for the government?” Ben didn’t look like he was comfortable with what they’d heard either.

“No, they aren’t from the Republic I don’t think, but they have a mission.”

“They’re picking something up, right? Maybe they’re from some kind of medical company and they’re here for payment?”

“No, that’s not…” Armitage shook his head. As much as it felt like he should know what was going on, he didn’t quite. “Or, yes, that could be it. I don’t know.”

“Well, at least we have a mystery to solve while we’re in town.” Ben looked far too pleased about that. “You want to go see if they’ve cooled down over at the restaurant? I’m starved.”

So was Armitage; he’d already been hungry when they arrived at the restaurant for lunch. Still, he didn’t want to risk the humiliation of being thrown out again. Also, while the place they were staying was affordable, it still did not leave a lot of funds left over for things like eating out. It would be cheaper to buy groceries and eat in. 

“No, let’s see what there is at the market.”

The ‘market’ was just a couple of produce stands near the restaurant, and it was almost ready to close for the day. Armitage chose some more familiar-looking vegetables, and Ben looked disappointed that they were going to be eating vegetables. 

Once they were back at the cabin, Ben went to bite into a carrot and Armitage snatched it out of his hand. 

“I need that.”

“For?”

“To make dinner.” 

Bel looked like he didn’t believe him.

“Find a knife and chop this, would you?”  
Shrugging, if still skeptical, Ben obeyed. Armitage got to work on the base for the soup. Once they were done to the point where Armitage was adding in the chopped ingredients, Ben spoke up.

“So, they offer Home Ec. at bad guy military school?”

“Hn? No.” Armitage finished adding things and started looking for a spoon to taste the broth. He was too focused on what he was doing to care much about the ‘bad guy’ comment. “My mother taught me how to cook a couple things. I was quite young, so this is really all I remember.”

“I’m sorry, did she –“

“No. No, she’s still alive to the best of my knowledge.” There was a wooden spoon on the shelf with the plates. Armitage hadn’t quite finished reorganizing the kitchen that morning, or it would have been in a much more logical location. “She was just fired.”

Armitage tasted the broth and decided it needed salt. They had some salt packet with their rations he could use. He turned around to go get them only to find Ben looking at him both like he’d suddenly turned purple, and like Ben was very sorry he’d just turned purple. 

Armitage realized this was the first time he’d ever talked about his mother with anyone – even his father – and he hadn’t even thought twice about telling Ben about her. He felt like he should stop. True, his father wasn’t around to disapprove of the conversation, but Armitage himself disliked dwelling on the past. 

“What do you mean she was fired?”

“She was….she worked for my father. As a cook, and then as my nanny. She wasn’t supposed to tell me she was my mother, but she did. So father fired her. I haven’t seen her since.” Armitage couldn’t stop himself from opening up to Ben. It felt both good and disorienting. 

“I’m sorry. Have you ever tried to look for her?”

“Father would never allow it.”

“Well, he’s not here now.” Ben smiled a bit.

“No, I suppose he’s not…” Armitage considered it for a moment. The idea terrified him, and he didn’t even know why. “I don’t even know her surname, though, never mind where she could have gone.”

“So we start with planets where it’s acceptable to name your kid ‘Armitage’. There shouldn’t be many.” Ben laughed at his own joke. “We can find her, together. I know we can.”

The way Ben was looking at Armitage, he could tell he really meant that. He was not only willing to go on a wild goose chase for Armitage’s mother, he believed they could find her. Because he believed in them. It was too much. He didn’t know whether to thank him or run away.

“I actually feel like we can do pretty much anything together.” Why was Ben still talking? The way he was looking at Armitage was making it hard to even breathe. “I mean, we work well together, right? And I like you, and I think you like me, so – “

“I’m leaving, Ben.” There. Now Ben was blinking instead of looking at Armitage like he was something special. He could breathe again, even if his breath did feel too sharp in his lungs. Ben looked…hurt.

“What do you mean?” Ben’s voice was quiet.

“I’m going back to the First Order. It’s where I belong.” Armitage said with certainty to the space above Ben’s left shoulder. A moment ago he couldn’t look away from his eyes, and now he couldn’t meet them. “I’m not leaving now, or tomorrow. Our time together has been valuable and I’d like to keep working with you for a while yet.”

“Yeah, it’s been real ‘valuable’.” Ben scowled. Armitage continued as if he hadn’t hear him.

“I need to get back before I fall too far behind my peers. I was well ahead of them when we met, so I still have time, but I don’t have time to track down my mother.”

Ben said nothing. His expression was blanker than Armitage had though his face capable of.

“Thank you for offering, though. And I …apologize…for not having told you of my plans sooner. I promise they do not include telling the Order about you.”

Ben left, then. He just walked out of the cabin. When he arrived back the soup was finished and they ate in silence. 

It tasted exactly like how Armitage’s mother used to make, but it provided no comfort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think~

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think! There's some fun stuff coming up in this part of the story. And some not-so fun stuff.


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